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As a
celebration, Mardi Gras has
spread throughout the United
States. Today the revelry
can be found from California
to Pennsylvania. Still, no
where is more closely
associated with Mardi Gras
than New Orleans, which is
understandable since it is
certainly the largest and
wildest carnival
celebration. However Mardi
Gras neophytes are often
shocked to learn that New
Orleans owes much of her
carnival traditions to her
smaller Gulf Coast sister
city,
Mobile Alabama. As
French found cities, New
Orleans and Mobile both
share many Creole traditions
and distinct traits; both
were capitols of the
Louisiana Territory, both
are gritty seaports, and
both know how to throw a
party. Still, it is Mobile
that can stake the claim as
"Mother of the Mystics."

Noted New Orleans Mardi Gras
historian
Arthur Hardy is
not short to give Mobile its
due in his book, Mardi Gras
in New Orleans. Hardy
writes,
"Although their parades on
Fat Tuesday did not begin
until 1866, the
claim that the city of
Mobile makes as the
motherland of Mardi Gras
parades in the United State
is a viable one.

Some Alabama historians view
the annual Masque de la
Mobile feasts as Carnival
celebrations. These events
were presented annually on
August 25 by the Societe de
la Saint Louis (1704-1842).
A stronger case can be made
for two other groups: the
Boeuf Gras Society
(1711-1861), which gathered
on Fat Tuesday, and the
Spanish Mystic Society,
which appeared on Twelfth
Night (1793-1833). But
Mobile's most significant
contribution to Mardi Gras
dates from New Year's Eve
1830. Pennsylvania-born
Michael Kraft and a group
called the Cowbellian
deRakin Society (named after
the cowbells and rakes used
as noisemakers) walked the
streets in a spontaneous
celebration. The Mobile
party grew in size and fame
each year to point that in
describing a local foot
parade of boisterous
masqueraders in New Orleans
in 1837, The Picayune called
them "Cowbellians." In 1840
the Mobile Cowbellians added
floats and paraded with the
theme Heathen Gods &
Goddesses. Two other "mystic
societies" were founded in
Alabama before New Orleans
joined the parading
fraternity: the Strikers
(1842) and the Tea Drinkers
(1846). In 1852, members of
the Cowbellians marched in
New Orleans, and the next
year the men participated in
a local bal masque."

For over three hundred years, in good times and in bad, Mardi Gras has grown and thrived in Mobile and New Orleans. Now shouts of, “Let the good times roll,” and “Throw something to me” can be heard across this vast country. Like the city it was founded in, Toomey’s has done its part to help spread the tradition of Mardi Gras. For over 25 years Toomey’s Mardi Gras has been supplying revelers with their Carnival supplies, and as the new century begins, it is helping to start new Mardi Gras Traditions all over the country. Is your town next?